number 34 • Winter 2018

The Public Interest

How much should we spend to save a life?

Spring 1978

IN the last decade or so, Uncle Sam has become increasingly interested in keeping us alive. Separate agencies have been established to deal with traffic, consumer, environmental, and occupational safety. Medicare and Medicaid have come into being. And there have been substantial increases in appropriations to reduce maladies such as kidney failure, cancer, and sickle-cell anemia.